The Lightning Rail to House Sivis

There are so many things out here the likes of which I had never even imagined that they existed. First we took a floating carriage on the branch line to the lightning rail. Then, we waited at the station and a huge train of coaches appeared. I was overwhelmed and a little afraid since they distinctly smelled of fire, but Elaira said that it was normal and we shouldn't be concerned. We had to ride for several days to get to Korranberg.

On the second day, I overheard Elaira talking in her compartment. I checked to make sure everything was okay, and found her talking to a mechanical person, a warforged like Reader. She was scolding him and telling him that it was somewhat rude to peer into people's compartments on the train. He clanked a lot, and was much noisier than Reader. He also had these attachments that must serve some purpose... he called them "doodads." He wasn't terribly eloquent, so I couldn't piece together entirely what he was doing. He kept saying he was looking for "stuff" to take to his master, Robert, to sell. He did manage to tell us some of his story, telling us that his name was Stalwart, but that we could call him "Clangor." He said he is from the region that used to be called Narath. Horadric said that his former land is now the Mror Holds in Karrnath, very far away. He said he has been travelling for awhile, and it's been over a year since he has been back. So, I asked where he was keeping all the other items he had acquired for his master, and he said he hadn't managed to collect anything really in all that time. Then, Clangor said that his master is not a very nice master and does not make him proud. He did say he was the only servant of his master, and that he was commissioned to serve the master and help the house. I came away from this discussion feeling somewhat confused, as to why he is serving this master, and why he has not been competent enough to find any "stuff" in over a year that would be suitable, and exactly what "stuff" he was looking for, and why not just to sell the items and take the money to his master instead as that seems easier. I think Elaira felt sorry for him, as she offered to let him travel with us.

The next night, there was a horrible thunderstorm. I worried that it would interfere with the rail, but still the train carried us forward. I awoke in the middle of the night, not really sure why. I saw a flash of black cloth pass by my window, and I felt a little uneasy... I reached for my weapon and stood, quiet and vigilant, ready for trouble. And trouble ensued. Very shortly thereafter I heard Elaira trying to fend someone off. In the hallway I saw a female elf and an eladrin, and in Elaira's compartment I could see her scuffling with another elf, upon whom I landed a crushing blow. Clangor came out, too, and grappled with the eladrin. Before I knew it, we were all out there: Horadric shouting out that he could see their dragonmarks and that there was a kobold scurrying around; and Reader for some inexplicable reason not remaining safe in his cubicle but instead running around in the hall doing a poor job of hiding and subsequently being punched and carried off. Clangor and I went after him and got him back (but the would-be captors somehow leapt off the moving train and got away), while Keh'r had stopped an assassin in Elaira's room who subsequently committed suicide. In the guy's pockets we found some of Elaira's belongings--just personal stuff. Obviously she was targeted, as any number of compartments were closer to the doors than hers. Elaira, Horadric, and Keh'r talked about it at some length as they checked over the items they had found on our foes: five coins, a "to-do" list, a Chinese flute, a Bag of Holding containing another 300 coins, an Amulet of Resilience, and a Wand of Vicious Mockery +2. They came to the conclusion that Elaira was being targeted for some kind of scrying ritual. Creepy. The "to-do" list listed some arcane components that my arcane allies believed were going to be used for some kind of scrying and/or long-range teleportation ritual; also a note to "convince Dor'alla" and to "be creative in town," a reminder to write to Mom, and a note to talk to folks including Mordac. As we watched, the man's form changed to a whitish creature with purple hair. The others decided that he was a race called a changeling, and that he could assume other forms. Lastly, it's worth noting that the money he had left was not regular money like I've seen before, but somewhat different money. I asked the others about where that kind of money was from and Elaira said it was money from Breland. Reader had told us that he had recognized the assassin; he said it was a man named Ephraim who had assassinated an elder of House Sivis and that it was the man who Nym had been speaking with, in the event that had revealed to him Nym's treachery.

Fortunately, the rest of our trip was uneventful. At Korranberg, we were welcomed by House Sivis. We relayed information to them and did our best to learn useful information from them as well. I overheard Keh'r talking to one of the gnomes named Alvian about "Tasker's Dream"... I got the impression it had to do with developing the "ultimate language" to use to send information quickly through the speaking stones. Keh'r, however, seemed fascinated and the two had a long, in-depth conversation... something about compression rates? Moving on... Elaira was deeply involved in a conversation about the Prophecy. I didn't hear much of it, but I did hear the gonmes talking to her about some anomaly in the Pantheon, some demon type god named Orkus who is also called the "Prince of Undeath." It was around then that I noticed that although all the people there were very small, one of them was a dwarf while the others were gnomes. The dwarf was wearing a holy symbol; I later learn that he is a cleric named Bjornhelm working for the gnomes. Another gnome was overheard saying that Reader was a useless slacker. Poor guy. A sweet apprentice named Talia looked him over with Elaira. I heard her say that some of the damage would be permanent.

Then, the gnomes started telling us how dragonmarks were showing up all over the land, with the first having appeared in Warden Keep. They had already sent a party out to investigate. If I could only have gone, I could have gotten two tasks completed! But Elwood's letter will have to wait, as some surprising turns of events in House Sivis have settled our path in another direction for the near future.

A gnome with glasses named Rattigan had begun calling out Horadric, and asking him about his past. This caught my interest, so I listened in a little more carefully. Horadric said he had been working with the Silver Flame, and said how he kind of just found himself somewhere without any memory of his past. He tried to make a joke about wanting a new memory unit, like Reader, but a hush fell over the House and it quickly became clear that this was no joking matter to the gnomes. Rattigan said that 66.358 percent of people with memory loss are important to a prophecy. Elaira asked more about the prophecy, and the gnomes started getting all sorts of books out. The dwarf cleric said he could not heal Horadric, but that he knew someone who could help. A skinny, old goblin named Cyrus came in. He told Horadric to come take part in a primal ritual to unlock his memory. I offered to help with the ritual and suggested that Reader should be healed too, but was told that Reader's memory loss being physical would prevent the magical ritual from restoring him, while the ritual may help break down the walls in Horadric's memory. All of us save for Keh'r went to do the ritual, while Keh'r decided to try his hand at gambling. Overall I don't have much skill with magic, but thought a ritual using primal energy might be a useful application of my skills.

I should have gambled, instead. Perhaps the way that I channel the primal energy only works for me personally, and isn't something that I can lend to others. Or maybe I was so unnerved by the group setting that I wasn't able to direct the energy appropriately. In any event, I think I might have killed a couple of birds. Cyrus seemed to be having quite a bit of luck, though, and he said he could see the Silver Flame moving away, that Horadric was not a member of the church, though possibly in a past life he could have been. He said that someone does not want Horadric to get his memory back; that he saw giants stomping the ground creating earthquakes, stone columns and orcs bowing before him; that then there was a view from the floor, with broken columns around and a plume of smoke, a corpse burning. He said he saw red flickering shadows, that there was a tigerlike creature called a rokshacka, a demonlike creature from the darkest areas of the world, stalking Horadric.

Then, the energy went awry, the glass ceiling of the House broke and earthquakes shook the very ground beneath us. A necrotic ooze began flowing down the shelves and among the hundreds of thousands of books in this place. A tiny lizard fell to its death, dropping at Horadric's feet. And Cyrus began screaming out, and as lightning flashed, a black dog appeared in Cyrus' place, the vision ended. We rejoined with Keh'r, who looked a bit dejected at the outcome of his night as well, and the next morning we spoke more to the gnomes about the next step.

They had managed to track down the portion of the prophecy that they had deciphered that they believed may be relevant to us now. It reads:
"The fall of one nation,
Erased from the great between,
Shall herald an open door,
A break in the armor between,
A dragon and its dreams,

A wall of red stone,
A huffing bull provokes,
Let him charge against a crimson brother,
Let him break against a charging oak
And give his wisdom to another."

It sounds like a bunch of gibberish to me and I am not sure I believe in Prophecy, but these lots are serious about it and I am willing to go along to help watch over them and to help try to restore Reader's memory. The gnomes said that the dragonmarks had begun appearing near Rivenroar, too, and that these along with the one at Warden Keep portrayed a dark future, that they should be studied to give us hints on how to help and stop the evil. They asked that the first thing we should do is to find Nym. They promised to pay us handsomely to track him to Graywall to the west. Cyrus (still a dog, the next morning) spoke up then, saying that the "wall of red stone" mentioned in the prophecy might refer to Graywall, a poorly-named city whose walls are in fact made of red clay. At this the gnomes became excited, saying that if we can bring any hints about the prophecy from this city, that they will give us extra money for any information we find.

Cyrus said he had a contact in Graywall named Bloodrush, who he spoke of as a useful, resilient, dependable sort. Elaira said she had heard of him as a great champion of the gladiator arena there, and Cyrus confirmed that it was the same. The gnomes asked Keh'r if he would be willing to delay his trip to Graywall to take a broken item back to Derrick in Brindol for repair. He agreed, and the rest of us set off with Cyrus toward Graywall. On the road, two interesting things happened. First, a weird glowy mark started appearing on my arm. I guess it must be a dragonmark? Elaira saw it one night while I was dressing into nightclothes. She told me with concern that I should keep it covered up when I was in public. I don't understand it much myself, so I certainly plan to follow her advice in this. Second, I had a dream about the letter I am carrying for Aelwyn. This has the letter on my mind... I probably dreamed about it because of all the talk about dragonmarks in Warden Keep. Hopefully this business in Graywall can get wrapped up quickly so that I can do the task that was set before me by Elwood.

We arrived in Graywall. It is an amazing place, with all sorts of kinds of people and creatures I have never seen before. I could just sit there and stare in wonder for hours at all the new things that await here. On the other hand, I received a few wayward stares myself, so I tried to hide in the middle of our group as best as I could. We walked around, seeing creatures dueling in challenge circles, lovers, musicians, shopkeepers... all manners of things. We stopped to watch one challenge circle, as an orc dueled with a gnoll. As we watched, Cyrus told us that we had come upon Bloodrush, the contact we were seeking. Bloodrush attacked the gnoll, and then a bunch of his friends rushed into the circle and all came upon Bloodrush at the same time, mobbing him. There must have been ten of them altogether. Cyrus said that we should help. I was a little wary, not being sure about the politics involved, but Cyrus told us that Bloodrush was a sportsman and would not do anything to provoke this attack justly. Clangor proclaimed that if Bloodrush was our ally, then he would fight. I am with Clangor on this one... if Bloodrush needs protection so that he can help us, I am willing to protect him.